A Time Of Before
"Nearly two weeks since Kuragari last bothered us." Li grumbled alertly to Sakura as they walked to school together. Sakura just eyed him. "Why doesn't he just show himself by now? What a coward." He continued. Sakura just watched him and stayed silent. She remembered their last time out capturing cards. Tori had given her a half-hour lecture about why not to sneak out a night and that he'd beat up "the brat" if he got close to Sakura. Tory had left the house early this morning with Julian because they were in charge of setting up the science classroom.
"So, I'm a coward now," said a voice from the treetops too silent for the two cardcaptors to hear. "We'll see who cowardice's after this"
"Sakura, Li, wait up!" Li jumped at the yell and Sakura's trance was broken. Madison came running up the hill. "I thought I lost you" she gasped, catching her breach at the same time. "I see Li's still jumpy" she continued. "What!" Li bursted out, realizing it was nothing and continued walking.
"Ever since last week, Li's been nervous. It has been awhile since Kuragari showed his face." Sakura said.
Up over their school, a figure hid on the roof, with what appeared to be a lasin board, similar to Li's, but the colors were fainter. "He's here." It said, "but where?" Then he eyed the prophecy ball. "It's going to happen today." He said.
Li sat at his desk behind Sakura's desk. Sakura, Madison, Rita, Nikki, Chelsea and were hanging around a poster in the hall. They all gazed in wonderment while Zachary was making a fool of Li.
"So, are you ready for it?" Asked Zachary to Li.
"For what?" Li responded waiting for his "correct" statement.
"You were supposed to stay after to help me clean the class. Don't you remember me telling you?" Zachary said gladly. Li remembered when he felt Kuragari presence near the school yesterday and ignored everybody in an attempt to focus. Zachary was really talking about how they should do their Christmas shopping now, in November rather than wait till the last minute. But he knew Li wasn't listening.
"I have to?" Li said nervously.
"See you after school." Zachary said cheerfully. Over at the wall where the poster was, the girls were now all talking about whom they'd bring.
"Maybe you should ask Li." Madison said giggling.
'What!" Sakura said in disbelief that Madison had said that, fortunately not loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Go on" Madison said and pushed her toward Li, who was reading for their book report.
"Yes." Li said looking up from his book feeling her presence. Madison sat her desk, obviously listening. Sakura couldn't believe what was going on.
"Is there something you would like?" Li said, reading his book. Madison laughed quietly at her desk.
"Well, Li." Sakura said with hesitation, thinking of what Madison had done. Li just continued reading.
"There's a dance on tonight, you might have seen the posters…." Sakura trailed off almost at a state of running. Li looked up from his book. Madison was just a laughing storm, trying to bite her lips.
"And Madison was wondering if you'd like to go.' Sakura blurted out. Li looked at her like she was crazy. Madison jumped out of her chair, not laughing anymore.
"Sakura." Madison said in shock. Sakura just stood there. Li was trying to digest what had just occurred.
"Li, she's just joking." Madison quickly recovered.
"Fine." Li said calmly.
"What?" Sakura replied, stunned by his answer.
"I'll go." Li repeated.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
At Sakura's house, Sakura was getting ready for the dance. She hadn't told Kero what had happened. Sakura was wearing a shiny, icy blue dress and glass see-through blue shoes. It was one of those Cinderella things.
"You look like you came out of that book, what's it called……," Kero said thinking.
"Cinderella?" Sakura guessed.
"That's it." Kero said. "With the glass shoes and all."
"Sakura!" The voice of Tori sounded. "Have you completed your homework?"
"And there's the grouchy step-brother." Sakura joked.
"Yes." Sakura responded. The doorbell rang. Tori answered it and it was Madison. She was in a light blue and white, silk dress, with high heels and was also carrying a bag. Sakura was still a little mad at her.
"It's a dance?" Tori asked Madison as Sakura came down the stairs.
"You dress like it's a ball." Tori finished.
"It was my mom's idea, but she wanted me to change when it ended, hence the bag." Madison said. Tori left to the other room. Kero, while no one was watching, flue into Madison's bag. He didn't want to be left with Tori and he wanted to be around all the snacks.
"The limo's in the shop, and my mom can't seem to get to spare another. There's this big party that they need them at." Madison said with indication that they'd have to walk. The walk was silent. Madison wondered is Sakura was mad at her. But then again, it was her who said she wanted Li to come.
"I've got you now, now to wait for the other one." It was Kuragari, but he wasn't talking to Sakura. Madison and Sakura ran to the field where they saw Li, tied to a tree by a whip of some kind, in his battle costume. It looked as if Li was looking for Kuragari.
"All dressed up this time? This isn't a tea party you know?" Kuragari joked.
"You wish." Sakura responded taking her key from her neck, but remembered she didn't bring and cards.
"You'll need these." Madison jumped seeing Kero craw out of her bag. He handed six cards to her-Windy, Watery, Jump, Fly, Shadow, and Power.
"Good, the stuffed rodent's here too, but your too slow." Kuragari exclaimed, "My turn- Time Card! Return Card! Send us back to a time of before!" A vortex swirled from both cards. Everything turned to a blur. A feeling of suspension was in the air. After a couple minutes of not being able to move, they were back in the past. Sometime in spring it looked like. Kuragari fell to the ground in a loss of energy. Sakura and Madison looked around. Li was no longer tied to a tree.
"I'm no stuffed rodent!" Roared Kero, but Kuragari was on the move with Fly.
"Get back here!" Kero commanded going after him.
"Kero! No!" said Sakura grabbing him. She heard voices from the other side of the shrubs.
"Tori, I was not." Said a filumular voice.
"Well, I know thrashing when I hear it. Right from where your room is." Said another filumular voice.
"Is he still bothering you Sakura?" Said a voice that Sakura could never forget.
"That's Julian, Sakura said.
"And the other two people are your brother and……" Li drifted off peering through the bushes. 'You." The voices on the other side trailed off.
"I remember that conversation now." Sakura said. "We were going to school."
"But what day?" Li wondered aloud. "What's the importance of this date?"
"Well, I'm going to change out of this dress." Madison said, totally changing the subject.
"And you all are supposed to be in school." Added Kero, "So I'll look around and try to find the date." They all went to hide in the woods while Kero headed in the direction of Sakura's house. Kero was furious. Not at their time travel, but what Kuragari had called him. Stuffed-the adjective he hated most if he was being talked about, and rodent.
"Call me a stuffed rodent. I'll show him." Kero vowed. At Sakura's house, Kero made it in through Sakura's bedroom's open window. It was dark except for what sunlight shined in. Not hearing any voices, he proceeded downstairs. It was all dark. Everyone was out. Strolling around, Kero heard a very faint strange noise rumbling from the basement and went to investigate. It sounded about every five minutes. Kero followed it to a dead-end created by bookshelves. Waiting for the noise again, he saw a glowing book. Floating to it he read the spine. It read: "The Clow". Kero quickly sped out to Sakura's location realizing what was going to happen.
Over in the woods, Li, Sakura, and Madison wondered about the incantation Kuragari used. Sakura and Madison were sitting by a tree while Li paced back and forth.
"A time of before." Li repeated. "A time of before what?" Li said aloud.
"You have those cards too Li," Madison reminded him. "Can't you use those to take us back?"
"Yes," Li said confidently. "But he'd have to be with us, and he'd probably use the shield card against us. We can't leave him in the past." Suddenly, Kero than came rushing through the trees and crashed into Li. They both tumbled to the ground. Sakura and Madison rose from their spots.
"You know you've got a head nobody could miss." Kero said exclaiming the reason for the crash. Li rubbed his head.
"You're so blind you'd bump into a large lamp!" Li comebacked.
"He's just joking Li." Sakura said trying to prevent a fight.
"No I'm…" Kero tried to speak but Sakura covered his mouth. Kero then, after Sakura removed her hand, explained to them what he saw and what it meant.
"He can't do that!" Li said angrily.
"Yes he can, be he doesn't know where the book is yet, so we have to guard it." Kero replied.
"But we can't guard the book at my house, Not with Tori. He senses things that aren't right…" Sakura trailed.
"That's what he meant. A time of before the release. Well, if we can't play defense, well play offense." Li said pulling out the lasin board. It led them through shrubs. Down to the place the Mirror card had hurt Tori. Out of the woods, it brought them to down town. They sat on the outskirts. They couldn't walk without being noticed.
"There's got to be something we can do without disrupting the future." Madison said in a hopeless tone. Then, all of a sudden, the beam from the lasin board shot back. They all turned around and there was Kuragari.
"You want to battle me? I'll send you home crying. A home of your past that is…." Kuragari chuckled.
"Windy!" Sakura said sending a full power card at him.
"Electroshock!" Kuragari cried throwing the palm of his hand against the incantation card. The bolt traveled around Windy's spirit. Sparks seemed to flow through channels of wind. Windy stopped its attack, falling weak. Sakura recalled it.
"You give up too easily." Kuragari said pleasantly. "Fight card! Lend your powers to this wand. Grant me your powers! Release!" Kuragari came charging at Sakura, fists ready to strike. Li shoved Sakura into a tree and took three punches. "This isn't your fight." Kuragari said. "Electroshock!" Kuragari launched a bolt of lightning that through Li up against a tree. Sakura used the distraction as a chance.
"Power card! Lend your powers to my key. Release!" Power fused through Sakura, ready to reseal the Fight card. Kuragari charged at her again. Sakura tried to strike. She hit the ground. Kuragari moved behind her. Sakura swung around but hit a tree. Li was scared to do anything because he might have hit Sakura. Kuragari kept tricking Sakura with agility moves. Then, the lasin board seemed to go crazy in Li's hands. It shot beams of light to through the woods, like it couldn't decide where the thing was. Li finally realized why Kuragari came to them. But it was too late for Sakura. Kuragari tripped Sakura and she fell on her back.
"Power card!" Kuragari pronounced. "Return and unite your powers. Power card!" The power flue out of Sakura's body and into the card. Then went into Kuragari's hands.
"Sakura, it was a diversion!" Li shouted. Kero didn't understand what Li was talking about until he felt a great concentration of power approaching them.
"The book!" Kero shouted. Sakura shot up from the ground.
"Dash card!" Kuragari said hitting this wand against the card. He than took one look at them and raced off.
"Fly!" hurried Sakura. Madison got on and they flue after Kuragari. Li followed on foot with his Dash card. Sakura gained speed on Kuragari and he began to slow down. Sakura let down on the ground. Li sped past Kuragari.
'Freeze card!" Kuragari said releasing the Freeze. It rushed to Li.
"Shadow!" Sakura said. "Trap the Freeze." Shadow emerged, and fought with Shadow. It seemed to be entangling the Freeze but Shadow began to freeze, showing down. In the distance, Sakura saw Li and an approaching book coming towards Kuragari.
"Release the light, Lightning!" Li commanded. A streak of lightning shot the book out of the air. The Move card crashed to the ground.
"Freeze card, return" Kuragari ordered and the Freeze returned to its card form. Kuragari made a break for the book. Kero chased after him.
"Move card! Return to your power confined!" Sakura said. The move touched her wand, then floated to Li in its card form. Kuragari approached the book, with Kero not far behind. But then, the last thing they wanted to happen occurred. The book began to glow. A form began to emerge from the cover. A fully powered Keroberos woke up. Recognizing Kuragari, he fired fireballs at him. Kuragari disappeared into the woods.
"O, no" Li said softly.
"What do you mean "O, no"." Sakura said. "We can get this Kero to send us back using the Time card."
"Who are you? And why do you possess the Clow cards? The Keroberos said in a deep voice.
"It's a complicated story, you see, we're from the future. Kero explained. "And unless you fall back asleep, the future will be destroyed." Keroberos didn't understand why. "You see, in about three days, a girl will wake you up, and you will be her guardian, me" Kero said. "You will teach her to use the Clow cards and enjoy wonderful things, like pudding and cake." Madison and Sakura fainted hearing him say that.
"But can't we get back to the future using the Time card in this book." Sakura suggested.
"No, you can't." Keroberos said. "Two cards, the Time and Return are loose. You must recapture them, and that is how you shall get home. I guess I'll be returning to sleep so I can figure out pudding is." Kero fainted knowing that he didn't know what pudding was back then. Keroberos merged with the cover of the book and returned to sleep.
"Move card! Send the Clow book back to where it belongs!" Li ordered. The Move engulfed The Clow and traveled through the woods.
"So, I guess we'll be going back to the clock tower to get the Time and Return." Madison said.
"Why the clock tower?" Li asked.
"Where other place would the Time card go?" Madison said proving her point. The Move card returned to Li, and they waited in the woods for night. They all rested on a tree trunk. By nightfall, they had all fallen to sleep. Sakura's head slipped off the tree trunk and into Li's lap. She found herself more comfortable. But she didn't know what she was lying on. Kero lay asleep on Sakura's back while Madison slept with her head on her bag. Kuragari didn't know what to do. He knew the cardcaptors were going to the clock tower to retrieve the two cards. He couldn't recall them. In their present, the shadowy figure that was atop the school stood where they all disappeared. Holding the prophecy ball, it spoke an incantation:
Through the past and futures of time
Allow sight through what shall lay
To look behind, into the past
And see the progress of the cardcaptors
A vision glared in the ball. He saw Kuragari headed for the clock tower and the cardcaptors snoozing by the tree. "How careless." It spoke. The time was approaching eleven o'clock and the dance would be over. Soon, Sakura's brother would be worried where they were.
Madison's watch began to beep. It was an alarm she had set. Madison rose and saw the three lying together.
"How cute." She said to herself. "How, who should I wake up first so they don't feel embarrassed?" Madison asked herself. She than took hold of Sakura's shoulders and pulled her up into a sitting position against the truck of the tree. Kero fell off Sakura's back and crashed on the ground. He woke up very angry. Sakura gradually woke up because of Madison's tugs. After Sakura woke, Madison woke up Li.
"I want to go back to bed." Sakura said sleepily.
"Come on, Sakura." Li said fully awake.
"At least you were woken up politely." Kero said looking at Madison.
"I'm sorry Kero, but I didn't see you." Madison replied. "Look, there's the clock tower." Madison said changing the subject.
"Fly!" Sakura said groggy. "Everyone on." She then added.
"I'll find my own way." Li said nervously.
"Ok" Replied Sakura. Sakura, Madison and Kero flue to the top of the tower. Li rapidly climbed the stairs. Kuragari was inside. He saw Sakura on her wand approaching the top of the tower. He also felt Li from beneath.
"It is time." Kuragari said very frustrated. Sakura flue in. Li crawled up the top of the stairs.
"Time card! Freeze the moment!" Kuragari commanded. Sakura, Madison, and Kero were in a direct line with Time's visible form and were about to freeze.
"Freeze card!" Li launched. The Freeze leaped over the Time card and turned to ice. Sakura, Madison, and Kero were released from Time's spell.
"Time card!" Sakura spoke quickly. "Return to your power confined." The ice broke up and Time was sucked into a card. It went over to Li.
"NO!" Kuragari said realizing his perfect pan was almost ruined. He pulled out an incantation paper. Sakura anticipated what it was.
"Shot card! Take down Kuragari" Sakura ordered.
"Electroshock!" Kuragari said angrily, launching it at the Shot. The shot returned to its visible form. "Shot card, return and unite your powers!" Kuragari said. While this was happening, Kuragari's Return card was on the run.
"Lightning!" Li said casing after the Return card.
"Sword card!" Kuragari prepared to battle Li. Li turned into a defense position, but was too late. Kuragari stabbed him in the leg, then removed the sword. Li topped to the floor.
"Li!" Sakura rushed to him. "Arrow card! Release!" Sakura struck back. Kuragari was shot in the left arm and left shoulder. But he had bought enough time. The Return had escaped and now he was running. "Shadow card, bind Kuragari!" Sakura ordered in rage.
"Flower card. Blind the Shadow!" Kuragari countered. The Shadow couldn't make out what was ahead of it. It fell into confusion. By the time the flowers vanished, Kuragari was gone too. Sakura turned back to Li. Madison and Kero were by him.
"He's going to need a doctor." Madison said. "We cannot wait another day." Sakura looked down, then to the rising sun.
"You go and capture the card." Li told her. "I'll be ok for a while, and the card's weak. It couldn't have gotten far."
"But…." Sakura tried.
"Go!" Li ordered.
"I'll stay with him Sakura." Madison said trying to relieve her. After a minute of deciding, Sakura finally left with Kero after the Return card.
"Fly!" Sakura said and going into the sky was hoping no one would see her. She found the Return card with Kuragari in the woods. She let down in front of them. Kero slowly transformed.
"Windy! Watery! Release and dispel!" Sakura launched her fire card plan. Kero followed with fireballs.
"Thunder card! Take them down!" Kuragari launched his counter attack. Watery fell first and Windy was taking a beating. Lightning filled the channels of air of Windy. Lightning was coiling back through Kero's fireballs, running to his mouth. He had to stop of be shot down. Watery finally returned to its card form. Windy flashed around Lightning, which was distracted with Kero. Kero was finally electrocuted. He transformed and landed on a tree. Windy, weak and diluted made its was toward Kuragari and the Return card. They both withstood the weak bursts of wind though. Sakura returned it and Thunder came toward her.
"You both did great." Sakura said to the two cards. "Just what I thought would happen." Thunder was now close to her. "Fire card! Release and dispel!" Firey's spirit emerged. It blasted down Thunder and headed straight for Kuragari. He ran but was not fast enough. Firey pinned him between two trees and the next thing he knew, he was caught in a circle of fire. "Return card." Sakura said to the fleeing card. "Return to your power confined!" The card sealed and traveled into the distance. Up at the clock tower, Madison and Li saw a piece of paper enter and land in Li's hand. It was the return card.
"You can't keep me trapped in here!" Kuragari said madly.
"I don't intend to." Sakura corrected him. The Float card that Sakura released brought Li and Madison to their location.
"Ready?" Sakura asked.
"Ready." Li confirmed. "Time card! Return us back to the place we belong!" As Li said this, a vertex formed from the Time card. They were returned to the woods, except everything seemed older.
"It can't be." Kuragari panted, weak. As he staggered off into the distance, a shadowy figure in blue robes gathered in the trees high above.
"They made it. I had doubts, but they did." Sakura thought about how Tori would be on her case. That she shouldn't run off or be around that "Li-kid". Madison had walked home, and Li was away to treat his injuries. Kero lingered behind Sakura's head. Sakura walked inside her house. She was expecting Tori to be in the kitchen waiting, but he wasn't. He walked down the stairs.
"Your home early." Tori exclaimed. Sakura didn't quite get it.
"I suppose you want to know where I was." Sakura asked her brother.
"I know where you were." Tori said puzzled. Sakura was shocked at his answer. "You were at Madison's house, weren't you?" He now interrogated. Kero held the back of Sakura's head. Maneuvering where Tori couldn't see.
"I was?" Sakura blurted.
"Her mother said so." Tori continued with a puzzled look on his face.
"Yes, I was." Sakura finished and ran upstairs. She didn't understand why Madison's mother would lye about that. A boy in blue jeans and a white shirt passed her house, concealing the prophecy ball.
"All for you, Sakura. All for you." He said.
Author's note: A very long one, I surprised my self. I knew some extra info was needed to catch an idea for the next chapter. And then there's my attention to accuracy. Time travel is always a tricky thing and I like to know the little things are right, like what happened in the present of this story. Do you all like these stories long say more than five pages?